Fri, 06/24/2011

Included in the G20's final ministerial declaration for their Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture, were some shout outs to the importance of agricultural research through CGIAR as well as the "implementation of poverty reduction strategies and in particular the work done within the CAADP framework."  Their mentions included using research and development as part of a larger plan to create an agricultural and food security risk management toolbox.

Included in this toolbox are mechanisms like CAADP that do country or regional risk assessments and integrate management strategies into their agricultural development programs.   This would also include the management of economic and commodity risk management as a whole, from entities like the World Bank and the new Agriculture Price Risk Management Tool (APRM).

The G20 is saying that one of the next steps to getting to the creation of this Toolbox would include possible pilots of risk assessment and management strategies under the CAADP process by November 2011.

For the complete statement by the G20, view here.

Amongst these honorable mentions, there were some cautious observers that believed that the G20 are not doing enough to take a more hands-on approach.  Director General Shenggen Fan of IFPRI believes the G20 neglected to acknowledge or direct the most pressing agricultural priorities at the global scale.  (See other Fan comments here.)

Amongst the countless things that remain to be done, the tone has been set that agricultural progress must find methods to improve global food security and stabilize volatile food prices.